In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Pakistan: Live at Your Own Risk!

[Cost: Lives of 45
citizens of Pakistan. Lesson Learned: Fokkers grounded for passengers services.
Outcome: No one is responsible!]

This time the temptation is irresistible. Long ago perhaps
15 years back I happened to go along with some kids to an entertainment park in
Lahore. We bought tickets to enjoy rides, etc, inside the park. The back of the
tickets read as: Ride at your own risk. I was staggered: are not the people
running this business responsible for any mishap? I decided to write on this
way of avoiding/evading responsibility, and thought we had accepted this way of
behaving as moral and normal. The stream of thought also suggested that it is
just like living in Pakistan
at one’s own risk. I took care of one of the tickets and have still this ticket
safe with me as I keep my National Identity Card.

But as happens with almost all of us, I forgot it, or
ignored it thinking that what if I write something on it or doubting it will make
any difference. We all forget or ignore or overlook many things like that. Out
of many reasons for this behavior the most cogent one is that we lack a culture
of complaint, or say we do not bother about our rights or freedoms for fear of
inviting trouble. Not that we have no time, not that we are coward, not that we
are accustomed to injustices, insults, etc; but for the reason that the culture
of complaint have entirely been destroyed in our society. You go for a
complaint and you are snubbed, you are insulted, treated like a criminal. Better
leave this business and stay away at home and live there until the moment you
are caught in a trouble! Hats off to those who still go for the complaint!

But this time in the wake of the Fokker crash writing on
this way of irresponsibility is irresistible. The latest news in this regard is
that the Federal Cabinet has decided to ground remaining Fokker planes for the
passengers, while the Chairman PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) was
insistent that they will not be grounded. All this shows that we do not follow
any rules, schedules, etc, and learn only when we suffer losses. But of course
this loss is not at our cost, it is at the cost of others. Let other people
suffer and die. Our attitude is starkly immoral.

The other day I got an opportunity to have a little chat
with a high-up of Civil Aviation Authority. He was quite satisfied and relaxed,
and found no trouble with the crash. I asked whether the Fokkers have not
completed their life, this one was made in 1964. He told it is not like that,
after it has lived its flying hours life the engine is replaced. Then, why this
crash? I probed. He declared emphatically: it is machine and anything can
happen to it.

Lo! No one is responsible because we are dealing with
machines (but they who deal in machines tell we are responsible) and machines
can go wrong whenever they like to. But PIA doesn’t have its tickets back telling
us this, it behaves like this: Fly at your own risk! The governments in Pakistan too
behave like this: Live at your own risk!

From a minor accident in which an individual gets bruises to
an accident in which the toll of human lives reaches hundreds of men, women and
children, no one is responsible. This all happens by itself. Recall the history
of Railways accidents, collisions, etc. Was ever anybody declared responsible? Recall
road accidents, was anybody held responsible? Recall floods, inundations, etc,
was anyone found responsible? Recall bomb explosions, ammunition depot
explosions, was ever anyone held responsible? Recall political and military
blunders and coups and the toll they took, were there any ones responsible for
it? Recall police killings, were ever anyone found responsible? Recall the
robberies, dacoities, murders, judicial, extra-judicial killings, tortures; recall
the scams, swindling, corruption, but why recall? We have all these before us! How
many of them held and punished? Recall the crash of the giant swing in Lahore and the suffering
of the kids, was anyone responsible? Recall unfit food, unfit water, unfit
fruits, unfit milk, and things like that, is anyone responsible for the harm
they inflict to the users of these items/ Recall and forget!

This state of affair is a symptom of what’s happening on the
surface; the causes lie deep down in our legal and value system. A society
needs two things to live peacefully: first is laws, and second is moral values.
We lack both. We have no rules, laws, constitution to follow or say we change,
manipulate them to our advantage; thus, we are free from any responsibility that
rules, laws, or a constitution lay upon us. This is diagnosed as the Rule of
Lawlessness. And, ironically, every government tells that it is not responsible
for that whereas establishing and maintaining rule of law is the supreme
responsibility of a government.

As to values, we have turned into a society without any
value. In other words it means our supreme value negates all those values that
human civilization values most. This value is: Might is Right, discarded by the
human society long ago the moment it stepped forward from a life and law of
jungle.

We are regressing on the scale of human values. Just as many
reports and indices rank countries for various achievements, the latest one,
which comes to mind, being the failed state index, if there be an index ranking
countries on the scale of immoral state, probably we will be among the ones on
the top of the list. We are an ImmoralState through and
through. The problem with our attempts to go ahead with reforms, etc, is that every
step toward any reformation starts with a certain value, and we loathe
following values.

But what we need direly at this moment is a step toward
strict implementation of rules and laws. We need Rule of Law. In other words,
it means freedom under the law, not the freedom, we enjoy at this time, of playing
with the law. It has two sides: first, those upon whom laws are imposed have
their freedoms and are not free to act beyond the limits of those freedoms
prescribed under the law, if they do so they be held responsible for the
violation of those laws; second, those who enforce laws are also bound to act
under certain laws, they are not free to act as they wish, and if they do so
they be held responsible equally. We need freedom with responsibility that will
be ensured only when all are treated equal before the law, and there is Rule of
Law.

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.